Search - reference

 
 
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Apr 18, 2014

Apps take new lead from social games

On Japanese TV, you may notice that a lot of commercials for smartphone social games emphasize the word muryō (free). Consumers have been purchasing digital content on their phones for years, even since the clam-shell cellphone days. Now, more and more Japanese people are migrating to the sort of smartphones...
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 13, 2014

Nevada rancher claims victory in standoff with U.S. government

U.S. officials ended a standoff with hundreds of armed protesters in the Nevada desert Saturday, calling off the government's roundup of cattle it said were illegally grazing on federal land and giving about 300 animals back to the rancher who owned them.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 10, 2014

In Iran, many of 1979 U.S. hostage takers mellow, now favor evolution to revolution

Three decades after hard-line students occupied the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took diplomats hostage for 444 days, many of the now middle-aged revolutionaries are among the most vocal critics of Iran's conservative establishment, officials and analysts said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 9, 2014

Art on the brink of fragmentation

You can't go wrong by calling a show "Fragments," as the curators of this year's "MOT Annual" exhibition have done. With a name like that, whatever bits and pieces visitors encounter at the annual group show of Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art, they can't say they were cheated because a name like that...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2014

Can a nuclear-weapons state champion disarmament?

India should be the one to step forward to champion a phased, regulated and verifiable global nuclear disarmament governed by a universal, nondiscriminatory nuclear weapons convention.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Apr 6, 2014

Read up on ways that can help us learn English

Public libraries are important community resources across Japan, but while English is taught from fifth grade, those hoping to find a ready stash of English-language reading material may be disappointed.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 5, 2014

North Korea envoy tells world 'wait and see' on new nuclear test

North Korea said Friday that the world will have to "wait and see" when asked for details of "a new form" of nuclear test it threatened to carry out after the United Nations Security Council condemned Pyongyang's recent ballistic missile launch.
Reader Mail
Apr 2, 2014

Right response to soccer banner

Kudos to the Urawa Reds soccer team for taking action against the "Japanese Only" banner displayed at the team's first game played at home this season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 2, 2014

When political agenda hinders aesthetic pleasure

The title of this exhibition is a clear attempt to evoke the idea of 'magical realism,' a literary genre that has been particularly associated with Latin American literature.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 2, 2014

Knowing your rights can protect against fake cops

Safeguard yourself against an unwarranted public shakedown
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 23, 2014

Germans finally start poking fun at the Fuhrer

If Hitler were alive today, would he become a standup comic? Incredible though that may sound to anyone who lived through World War II, that is the scenario sketched out in "Look Who's Back," a satirical novel by Timur Vermes, which topped the best-seller lists in Germany after its publication in 2012...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2014

The rest of Ukraine promises only more trouble for Russia

Once again Russian President Vladimir Putin's rhetoric has made U.S. President Barack Obama seem out of touch protesting violation of international law, as the world knows the U.S. is the country that ignores it most.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 22, 2014

Go potter in Mashiko

If a visitor to Mashiko had any doubts about the town's dedication to pottery, the giant, iconic stoneware jar that stands near the station ticket barrier, would dispel them.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 15, 2014

Japanese who played rugby before 1899

The earliest reference to a Japanese person playing rugby appears in a magazine produced by University College School in London. "Bell, Lindfield, Webster and Kikuchi deserve mention for the School," says an account that referred to a third XV match in October 1872 against "any XV chosen from the School."...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 15, 2014

Historical ifs and weathers or not

To suggest that history is shaped by chance weather events and climatic variation doesn't lend it quite the same gravitas as if it were wrought by great leaders. It certainly isn't as inspirational. But such processes can be just as important — and the weather can sometimes foil even the best-laid...
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 10, 2014

Suspected Russian spyware targets Europe, United States

A sophisticated piece of spyware has been quietly infecting hundreds of government computers across Europe and the United States in one of the most complex cyberespionage programs uncovered to date.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 8, 2014

Farmers not waiting for politicians

When it comes to trade policy, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces a choice between the fears of an aging farm lobby and the hopes of suburban families.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 8, 2014

China signals tougher stand on territorial rows

China is beefing up spending on high-tech weapons and upgrading combat readiness as it throws its military weight behind territorial claims that have stirred tensions with Japan and its Southeast Asian neighbors.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Mar 7, 2014

Era of personal genomic medicine dawns at last

When President Bill Clinton announced in 2000 that Craig Venter and Dr. Francis Collins of the National Human Genome Research Institute had succeeded in mapping the human genome, he solemnly declared that the discovery would "revolutionize" the treatment of virtually all human diseases.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2014

A new cold war in the making?

Even if there is no war, the Crimea crisis is likely to alter fundamentally relations between Russia and the West, and lead to changes in the global power balance.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 3, 2014

Tax structure encourages getting wasted

Alcohol manufacturers have figured out ways to use the tax system to their advantage.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 2, 2014

Xi orders terrorism crackdown after deadly rail station attack

China's President Xi Jinping ordered a crackdown on "violent terrorist activities" after 33 people died when knife-wielding assailants rampaged through a train station in a southwestern city Saturday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Mar 1, 2014

Japan finds bitcoins can bite back, too

Tokyo has once again become the center of a world-wobbling virtual financial crisis. Let me emphasize the word virtual. That's because the world's best-known and perhaps largest exchange of the virtual currency known as bitcoin — Mt. Gox, located in Tokyo's Shibuya district — appeared to have all...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2014

Smaug the dragon to get fans fired up for 'Hobbit' sequel

The middle film in a trilogy can be a risky venture. The first film? Audiences are introduced to new characters and exciting possibilities. The final film? Hollywood pulls out all the stops to send those characters off with a bang. The middle? Well, directors often save their best tricks for the finale....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 25, 2014

Quattro's Yuichi Ushioda hits the sea for a solo album

"The philosopher Shunsuke Tsurumi said in an interview that, when you see something like a rainbow and feel moved by it, that moment is eternity," singer-songwriter Yuichi Ushioda tells me at the 3rd Stone Cafe in Tokyo's Shimokitazawa area. "I want to be able to notice moments like that. These moments...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2014

Flux

Flux, the new collection of poems by Japan-based poet Jane Joritz-Nakagawa, reveals a myriad of fluctuations and transitions in style and theme. From the poet's diverse choice of form to her penetrating eye on the collection's wide range of subject matter, the poems here reveal the constant change in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 19, 2014

NNTT debut peers behind the masks of 'Condemned' Sartre family

Until Japan was opened to the West in the mid-19th century, its theater culture mainly comprised traditional forms such as kabuki, comic kyōgen, bunraku (puppet theater) and noh.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?